Unspoken, forgotten
by Not Just a Nerd
Summary: An alternative ending to the movie. What if Alex had asked for her brothers to reappear, like her father had suggested? Jalex. Oneshot.


"**Faded**_ emotions, and a _**shattered**_ heart__  
><em>_Standing at the edge, waiting for _**the last**_ breathe__  
><em>_There's _**nothing left**_ to regret__  
><em>_With all _**unspoken**_ words, once again, left _**unsaid**_"__  
>-Forgotten, by Bloodlust<em>

* * *

><p><strong>i.<strong>

"Just wish for your brothers to re-appear".

Her fingers trembled around the stone clutched tightly in them. Was it really as simple as that? Just say the words and they'd reappear out of thin air? She had one wish- _only_ one wish, no redoing, no replaying, no rewinding. She had to get it right at one go. She was so afraid, and so sure,that she would make another mistake instead of fixing the one she had already made And if she made a mistake this time, everything she ever had, and everything she told herself she could never have, would be taken away. Messing up wasn't an option this time.

Her throat felt clogged, and the words didn't seem to come out, stuck at the back of her tongue, along with the thousand other words including 'I'm sorry' and 'I need you here Justin' ('I love you Justin'). She kept going over the words she had chosen in her head again and again, making sure she got everything right. One wrong word, and everything that had been snatched away from her in one swift motion of a vortexwould be lost forever.

Time was running out though, and every second's delay was inching her closer to that permanent loss that she dreaded. Finally, she took in a deep breath, closed her eyes, and just went for it. "I want my brothers, Justin and Max", she added the names, just so she didn't get some other brothers instead, by an evil twist of fate, and licked her lips anxiously, "to reappear."

A swirl around her. A gust of wind. A cold shiver of fear and anticipation running through her heart, as if splitting it in half. Her eyelids closing against her eyes, squeezing her tears out. A mind screaming _Justin Justin Justin Justin_ until the echoes faded out…

"Where am I?"

Her heart leapt at the sound of her little brother's voice. She didn't want to open her eyes, didn't want to see that this was a dream, didn't want it to end.

"Who am I?"

It was like a lightning bolt to her electrified soul. The words blurred out, only the voice, and the person to whom the voice belonged, was identified by her brain. Her eyes shot open at her older brother's voice, her mind racing with a thousand thoughts and fears. She had to see for sure that it really was him, had to see that this was real.

When her eyelashes parted, there they were, her brothers, standing right in front of her eyes. She blinked a few times, fingers pinching her arm of their own accord, and the figures still remained unwavering. "Justin! Max!" she ran up to them in a flash, hugging them tightly. "I am so, so sorry!"

Justin's eyes blazed with a glint of confusion, his eyebrows arching upwards. His hands stayed limp by his side, his feet not moving more than an inch. "I-I'm sorry, but w-who are you?"

_Who are you who are you who are you who are you…._

The words kept hammering at her chest. Her heart broke all over again. She pulled back from him, looking him straight in the eyes. She wasn't ready to believe that he didn't remember. He had to remember her! He had to remember himself! All she could see in his eyes was black dullness. Her gaze intensified, switching from hopeful to pleading to desperate to helpless to that of defeat. Her lips parted to let out a yell directed at the fucking stupid unfairuniverse, but no words would come out, and she felt like she was screaming with her mouth shut. She looked down at the ground, stomping her feet, as her mother pulled her back, hugging her tightly.

This wasn't happening!

* * *

><p><strong>ii.<strong>

"_It's the stone of dreams. It can do anything. Reverse a spell, grant you any wish, show you the future. But you only get one chance at it."_

As she sat beside him in a plane some hundred feet high in the air, her eyes looking everywhere but at the face that used to be her world but now is an unknown, unseen yet familiar dimension, she kept remembering what he had told her during their search for the stone of dreams.

Why did she wish for them to reappear? Why didn't she just reverse the spell, make it like none of this ever happened?

Her eyes automatically moved to her feet with guilt. She was being selfish. She couldn't make herself erase the days and nights in the rain-forest that shouldn't have happened in the first place but that she was oh so grateful for. She couldn't make herself undo that look in his eyes as they sat by the camp-fire, that look of promises and regrets and broken hearts and restrained love and a silent whisper of 'you mean the world to me', that look that mirrored hers, as if it never even happened. She chose to stick to those forbidden moments; she chose to cling to those forbidden emotions.

And now she had lost everything. Now, _he _didn't remember any of this, or anything else for that matter. Now he had no idea about himself or anyone else in the world. Now he was lost, confused, wandering aimlessly in search of finding out who he was. Now, he wasn't _her_ Justin -her geek, her dork, her nerd, her jerk, her brother-anymore.

And she was the one solely responsible for all of this. That's where it hurt the most.

"Umm, Alex?" she was startled by Max's voice from her left, breaking her out of her thoughts, and surprised at how different it sounded, so tiny, so timid, so _scared. _The guilt inside her was soaring to new highs.

"Yeah?" she asked, quickly forcing a smile on her face.

Max smiled back, only for five seconds. "I've been thinking".

That's a new thing, Alex thought to herself, but stopped herself short of saying it out loud like she usually would have. Who knew how this Max will react to her retorts and insults? "Yeah?" she asked instead.

"What if I don't remember?" Max asked, almost in a whisper. His eyes were scanning Alex's face, begging her for some reassurance, for some comfort, for _something. _

She had nothing to offer though. She had nothing at all, with her Justin someone else now. She was too broken herself to think of building up her broken world again. She shook her head. "I don't know, Max. I don't know…."

Her heart felt like it was being dropped to the ground from where she was in the sky.

* * *

><p>All the way through the sub-shop and the stairs, she kept staring at her brothers' faces, mostly Justin's, to see any hint of recognition, to see any sign of memories rushing back-and feelings reappearing. Her heart broke when she found none. His steps were restrained, measured, and careful, like he was in a whole new place. He looked around the place, as if he was seeing it for the very first time. He kept staring everywhere, trying desperately to remember. But he couldn't, he just couldn't, she could just see it in his eyes. He didn't even feel like he had been here before, let alone spent his whole life here. He wondered if he could learn to call this place his home. Home is where the heart is, and he wasn't sure where his heart was anymore.<p>

He wondered if he would ever learn to trust these people. He didn't have any other choice anyway. He didn't remember anything; he had to believe what they said. From what he had seen so far, he could tell one thing for sure- these people genuinely cared about him, maybe loved him even, whoever these people were.

This dependence on others was killing him though. He kept feeling like _he _was someone who people- especially someone special that he couldn't remember no matter how hard he tried- depended on, and not the other way around. He would have to remember!

There had to be a way!

* * *

><p><strong>iii.<strong>

"Are you sure the 'jog your memory' spell will work?" Alex asked her father uncertainly. She really hoped it would, but she wasn't sure. If she made a wish that their parents had never even met, didn't that mean nothing ever happened? Would they even have memories of that, if those things in the past didn't even happen? Ugh these time space thingies sucked. If Justin was still Justin, he would have figured it out and she wouldn't be having this massive headache!

"We have to try", Justin spoke, for the first time since they had gotten here and he had sat down on the ridiculously orange couch. He couldn't remember this room either, these furniture, the TV- everything seemed foreign to him. So he was desperate; he was ready to try anything to get his memory back.

Her heart ached again when she saw the throbbing pain in his eyeballs. She nodded firmly. "Okay."

* * *

><p>"You are in so much trouble, Alexandra Margarita Russo", her mother scolded, placing her hands on her hips. Her nostrils flared, and her eyes were wide with fury, but there was a hint of relief and happiness in the way her lips curled up just the slightest bit.<p>

"I'm grounding you for two weeks." Her father added, standing beside her mother.

"Two weeks? She had wiped away our whole lives!" Max protested, crossing his arms.

Under any other circumstances, she would have been defending herself, trying to sneak out of trouble, but right now, she was just _so _glad that they remembered. These tears were happy tears. She hugged the three of them tightly, "I am so, so sorry! I'm sorry! I'll do anything you say! I promise I will never do it again! I'll be nice to you. I'll listen to you from now on. I won't manipulate Max, and I won't even fight so much with Justin any-" she paused when she suddenly realized that Justin hadn't said anything or even move. How could she just forget about him, when she had been thinking about him the whole time?

She pulled back from her family, and slowly turned around, too afraid to actually see if the spell had worked on him. "Justin?"

The way he buried his head in his hands and slump back on the couch gave her the dreadful answer that she didn't want to get. She felt her heart break all over again.

No, no, no, this couldn't be happening! Why didn't the spell work on him? It had to work! It had to! He had to remember! She closed her eyes. She refused to believe this was real.

* * *

><p>"This is your room", their mother announced, holding the door open for him expectantly.<p>

He didn't step inside. His empty eyes trailed all over the room, reflecting everything that was him once upon a time. "I-I don't r-remember." His stuttering came off as a sigh.

"It's okay, mi hito", their mother gently patted his back. "Don't put so much of pressure on yourself. It'll all come back to you slowly, I promise." She wondered in the back of her mind if she would be able to keep this promise. She really hoped she would.

Justin nodded at his mother, and then at his father, who was standing behind them, looking broken. He entered his room, for what seemed to him to be the first time. He took in the refrigerator on the right side, scanned the drinks inside- all soft drinks, no alcohol. He could tell he didn't drink, or that he was _really _good at hiding them if he did. He scanned the study table. It had so many piles of books. He didn't even remember studying those. Would he have to start studying all over? He walked over to the table, when he spotted some sticky notes, hoping he would find something important that may help him remember. "Take back CJB back-pack from Alex." it read in his own hand-writing. He didn't even remember what his CJB back-pack was! He tried turning on the lamp. "To turn on the lamp, create a lightning bolt", a voice said. He looked at his family, confused.

"I'll fix that", Alex said quickly. With three swipes of her wand- since she missed the first two; this wouldn't have taken so long if Justin was still Justin- she removed the spells all over his room, and made them all ordinary every day objects.

"Thanks", he mumbled, in a voice that was just as tired as broken, almost a silent plea for help. He sat down on the bed, rubbing his head. "I guess I'll take some rest now then." he mumbled softly, wondering if he would remember when he woke up. Could he even manage to fall asleep in this unseen, unknown place?

"Okay then", his mother quickly placed a kiss on his forehead, "we'll go check on Max now. We're just downstairs. Call us if you need anything."

"I will", Justin reassured with a forced smile, as his parents walked outside the room.

"Come on, Alex!" Their father called, when he saw her still standing inside his room, as if she was frozen there.

"In a minute, daddy", she told her father, gesturing for him to go away. Thankfully, he did, closing the door behind him.

She still wouldn't look at Justin. She couldn't.

"Do you want something?" Justin asked uncertainly, staring at her. She looked like she was contemplating something. Or maybe she was holding back from saying something? He didn't know her well enough anymore to decide what exactly was going on in her mind. Did he know her well before?

"I'm sorry", she said slowly, her eyes still on the floor. Her hands were clasped together, like a scared little child, her shoulders tense with guilt. "I'm sorry for everything, it's all my fault."

"Okay…." He trailed uncertainly. He didn't know if he should forgive her or hold a grudge- what would he have done if he was still himself?

"No, it's not okay!" she suddenly yelled, stomping her feet. It startled him. He wasn't expecting a drastic change in her reaction. "Nothing is okay, Justin! Everything's just so…. _wrong_! And it's my fault! I messed up everything! I….. God!" she slammed her fist on her thigh.

Justin winced. He didn't know what to do. "Don't blame yourself…. That won't be of any help."

She was crying by then, covering her mouth with her hands to hold back her sobs. She couldn't even speak.

She was crying, and even though he didn't remember her, it was….. _hurting _him? He couldn't stand to see her cry, he wanted to make her stop, he wanted to tell her that everything was going to be alright. Is that what he was like then? Her big brother, her shelter, her protector? He wondered. That was what big brothers did anyway, right?

She continued crying, her shoulders shaking now, and he couldn't take it anymore. He got up from the bed, and lifted his hand, hesitantly bringing it close to her cheeks to wipe her tears away. He didn't though, he couldn't, _something_ felt wrong about it. So instead, he placed his hand on her head, and stroked her hair gently, petted her head. It was awkward for him, he was feeling uneasy, wondering how she would react, but her sobs died down, so he assumed he was doing the right thing.

She wiped away her tears, giving him a weak smile. "Thank you."

He only nodded, moving back to his bed. The longer she stayed there looking so broken, the longer he felt miserable. He felt like there was something that he needed to remember, like there was some giant elephant in the room right in front of his eyes, and he couldn't see it at all. He couldn't bear to be with her any more. "You should go now…." He whispered quietly.

She stood still for a few minutes, just staring at him, as if studying him, memorizing his every move, every breath, as if afraid that if she moved he'd vanish away. Finally, she ran out of the room, closing the door behind her with a dull slam.

Now she could pretend that _her_ Justin was on the other side and he would yell at her again when she entered the room without knocking.

* * *

><p><strong>iv.<strong>

"Why didn't it work on Justin?" Her question to her father sounded almost like an accusation. She was angry, at everything, at everyone, and especially at herself. If the spell worked on everyone else, why not Justin?

"I don't know," Jerry sighed. "Magic does whatever it wants… I guess Justin didn't want to remember. Maybe he wanted to forget something?" her father sounded confused when he said this. His logic seemed impractical to even himself, what could Justin possibly want to forget?

Her breath was a hiss as she realized _exactly _what he might have wanted to forget- the time they spent together at the rain-forest, letting their barriers down, letting the other see more of themselves, growing closer and stronger; the promises, the confessions, the stolen gazes and accidental touches- all the things that she wanted to remember, forever and ever.

And now everything was over. All the unspoken things were now forgotten.

Where did it all go so fucking wrong?

* * *

><p><strong>AN: This was written for a challenge with **SaveVsMagic **to prove that angst is way better than fluff (if he ever manages to finish *cough*start*cough* his fic that is :P). Hope you guys liked this. Please review! :) **


End file.
